MetLife Investment Management LLC Sells 823 Shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

MetLife Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 97,696 shares of the company’s stock after selling 823 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Avient were worth $4,916,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Avient during the 1st quarter valued at $133,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Avient by 6.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 54,656 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,373,000 after acquiring an additional 3,329 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Avient by 2.1% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 12,877 shares of the company’s stock worth $559,000 after acquiring an additional 259 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Avient by 88.6% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 811 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Avient by 318.6% during the 2nd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 50,824 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,218,000 after purchasing an additional 38,683 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 95.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Avient from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Avient from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Avient from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $49.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Avient from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Joel R. Rathbun sold 5,762 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.45, for a total transaction of $296,454.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.88% of the company’s stock.

Avient Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE AVNT opened at $51.25 on Monday. Avient Co. has a 12 month low of $33.98 and a 12 month high of $54.68. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $49.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.70. The stock has a market cap of $4.68 billion, a PE ratio of 31.64, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.02. Avient had a net margin of 4.66% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The firm had revenue of $815.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $797.50 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.57 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Avient Co. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is an increase from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.11%. Avient’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.67%.

About Avient

Avient Corporation operates as a formulator of material solutions in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, South America, and Asia. It operates in two segments, Color, Additives and Inks; and Specialty Engineered Materials. The Color, Additives and Inks segment offers custom color and additive concentrates in solid and liquid form for thermoplastics, dispersions for thermosets, and specialty inks; custom-formulated liquid system, such as polyester, vinyl, natural rubber and latex, polyurethane, and silicone; and proprietary inks.